Looks like TNT’s Claws has legs: The Turner-owned cable network has ordered a second season of the Niecy Nash–led comedic drama, just one month after the show’s June 11 premiere. The fast renewal comes as Claws has defied the ratings rules of Peak TV, actually growing its audience week-to-week since launching. After opening with a solid 1.75 million viewers (including three days of DVR replays), the show’s audience grew to 2.2 million viewers by July 2. (DVR data isn’t yet available for this past Sunday’s episode.) This stands in contrast to audience patterns for most cable series, which tend to open to inflated numbers (due to extensive marketing and promotion) and then fade a bit in the following weeks.
What’s more, Claws has done particularly well with TNT’s target audience of adults under 50, outperforming established hits such as AMC’s Preacher and OWN’s Queen Sugar and leaping ahead of TNT’s sophomore success Animal Kingdom. TNT estimates Claws is currently reaching a multi-platform audience of 6.3 million linear and digital viewers and has the youngest audience skew of any show on the network. The series, which dives deep into the devious doings inside a Florida nail salon, also stars Judy Reyes, Carrie Preston, Karrueche Tran, and Jenn Lyon, along with Breaking Bad’s Dean Norris and Lost’s Harold Perrineau. Season two of Claws is expected to premiere in 2018.